Are we all going to die on Wednesday next (about tea-time)?

[Banquo's Ghost]

We are all so concerned about Russia aggression, Banking collapse and Executive Experiences (ten dollar, love you long time) that we have forgotten the end of times (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1052309/MICHAEL-HANLON-Are-going-die-Wednesday.html) that the euro-weenies are about to unwittingly unleash.

This kind of godless experimentation with creation is just about guaranteed to irritate said Creator into making an appearance in Switzerland. I for one, don't fancy our chances when He lets rip.

So, have any of you made plans for Wednesday evening?

(Yes, I know it's the Daily Mail, but their science coverage is so much more fun than Nature's). :beam:

[Ronin]

I´m sorry but I can´t die next week...I have wrestling tickets for the 24th already paid for!!!

could we re-schedule for next month perhaps?

[pevergreen]

Wednesday...no sorry, I'll be studying then. Perhaps if we were to postpone it for two weeks, that way I'd have my exams out of the way and I would have been either successful or failed dismally at regaining the one I love. If the latter, we could always bring it forward. :laugh4:

[Husar]

I don't really understand their evil plan, what do the scientists gain from all those earthquakes, lava and tumbling mountains they will bring upon us? :inquisitive:

[PBI]

My favourite part of the article was this:


Bizarrely, this group, led by a German chemist called Otto Rossler, are using the European Convention on human rights to argue that, should the LHC destroy the entire Universe, it would 'violate the right to life and right to private family life'.

Though of course, I know from my gaming experience that in the event of physicist-induced catastrophic universe failure, all theoretical physicists instantly become shotgun-toting badasses, so I'm not too concerned either way.

[LeftEyeNine]

If something goes bad, noone will be left behind.

Well, I'm all for it. Go CERN.

[Prodigal]

It better not end, public holiday on the 11th. What's really distressing about this is that they all seem so bloody jolly about it, "we're gonna crash stuff that's travelling at the speed of light in an attempt to reproduce the creation of the universe, and see if parallel universes are possible!" What could possibly go wrong :inquisitive:

[PBI]

It better not end, public holiday on the 11th. What's really distressing about this is that they all seem so bloody jolly about it, "we're gonna crash stuff that's travelling at the speed of light in an attempt to reproduce the creation of the universe, and see if parallel universes are possible!" What could possibly go wrong :inquisitive:

Or more accurately, "we're going to reproduce the exact same collision energies that have been going on between cosmic rays and our atmosphere for billions of years and never caused any problems, only we're going to do it inside a
vacuum chamber lined with sensors so we can see what actually goes on when it happens."

[KukriKhan]

Wednesday... my day off work next week. I was gonna wash my hair, but OK, if we gotta do this end of the world thingee...

-edit-

They claim there is a small - but not zero - chance that when the LHC is activated it will create either a mini-black hole which would fall into the ground and swallow the Earth from within (scenario one).

Or, even more bizarrely, trigger a catastrophic chain reaction in the very fabric of space and time itself, which would rip apart the entire universe like the skin of a bursting balloon (scenario two).

Scenario 3: It being buried 300 feet down, a chunk of earth crust the size of Delaware could be propelled into orbit, shining (err, glowing) of its own accord.

Q: who would own that real estate?

[Gregoshi]

Yeah, well my bank account has had a black hole in it for years and no one has been concerned about that.

[macsen rufus]

Gah! (Purely on the grounds that anything to do with the Daily Mail is an automatic GAH! for me ~D)

But what goes around comes around. I've long believed the "big bang" was just an artifact from when intelligent lifeforms in the previous Universe got serious about their nuclear physics, and that our universe is just a particle heading towards someone's cathedral-sized detector chamber :juggle2:

[Louis VI the Fat]

Sheesh people. Relax, will you? :no:

This prestigious Swiss-French nuclear particle accelerator is build in accordance with the strictest safety laws and closely inspected security measures (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/18/europe/leak.php).

[Viking]

I'm anxious....to look at the data from this experiment. ~D

[Conqueror]

I am a bit conCERNed about this.

[atheotes]

I will be on a flight around that time... maybe i can see whats happening on the surface :laugh4:

[Strike For The South]

I hope so

[Tribesman]

I was going to put a bet on the world ending and us all being sucked into a black hole , but Paddy Power cut the odds by half so I havn't bothered .

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
I don't care if I'll live to see tomorrow. :shame:
.

[Divinus Arma]

.
I don't care if I'll live to see tomorrow. :shame:
.

Does someone need a back rub?

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Nah, just your everyday Mouzafphaerre. Move on lads! :yes:
.

[Kralizec]

I'll bet a $100 on that we'll be fine. Any takers?

[The_Doctor]

I hope it does destroy the planet so we don't have to endure any more the nauseating American presidential campaign.:yes:

[Tribesman]

I'll bet a $100 on that we'll be fine. Any takers?

What odds are you offering ?

[SwordsMaster]

No plans for Wednesday. However, accelerating a particle for 18 miles to have it hit another particle doesn't seem like it will destroy the universe... I mean, worst case scenario it won't hit that particle and hit something else, like some scientist's balding head.

[Husar]

What odds are you offering ?

Do you really think there is a way to spend the money you could win inside that black hole? :laugh4:

[JAG]

~:rolleyes:

As the Daily Mail should have said anyway - it is all irrelevant as there was no big bang in the first place! God made all this stuff, silly scientists!

[Hosakawa Tito]

Hopefully I'll have time to empty out the liquor cabinet:barrel:musn't let it go to waste. Then it'll *hic* be goodbye cruel woild:toilet:.

[Gregoshi]

Do you really think there is a way to spend the money you could win inside that black hole? :laugh4:
Only if you are light fingered.

[KukriKhan]

(about tea-time)

Is that the Irish tea-time (around 1800), or the English tea-time (around 1500), or so I read? Expiring minds want to know.

Over here, the best tee-time is about 0715, this time of year. But that's a different kettle of golf balls. It would nevertheless just about coincide, time-zone wise.

Personally, I'm with Hosakawa Tito, and plan to crack open my long saved 18-year old Scotch, to toast the day.

p.s. why don't they wait 'til December 2012, so that Nostradomus, the Aztecs, etc could be proved right? :)

[Mouzafphaerre]

Only if you are light fingered.
.
:laugh4:

You are killing me! :2thumbsup:
.

[Big_John]

if you build something that looks like this

http://www.alienjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/lhc.jpg



and don't plan to destroy the world... there's something seriously wrong with you.

[Dâriûsh]

I have every confidence in the professionalism of the personnel involved (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM&eurl) in the CERN project.

[Idaho]

Is that the Irish tea-time (around 1800), or the English tea-time (around 1500), or so I read? Expiring minds want to know.

You barbarian!

English Tea time is 4-5pm :mad:

[Gregoshi]

You barbarian!

English Tea time is 4-5pm :mad:

American Tee time is anytime you can get off from work. Fooooore!

[caravel]

if you build something that looks like this

http://www.alienjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/lhc.jpg



and don't plan to destroy the world... there's something seriously wrong with you.

If you will take a look at that small exhaust port in the centre, well that's the weakness we've identified. A small one manned fighter should be able to fly down there and...

Ok I'll get my coat. :eeeek:

[Caius]

~:rolleyes:

As the Daily Mail should have said anyway - it is all irrelevant as there was no big bang in the first place! God made all this stuff, silly scientists!
I never thought I could agree with JAG. Oh well, lets hope that those Earth lovers stop their mad test.

[Prodigal]

Or more accurately, "we're going to reproduce the exact same collision energies that have been going on between cosmic rays and our atmosphere for billions of years and never caused any problems, only we're going to do it inside a
vacuum chamber lined with sensors so we can see what actually goes on when it happens."

This is true, and no doubt the "its safe because the earth is here" theory is a sound one. But the facts & figures they're using are scary no matter how you look at it, 99.99% the speed of light, 600million collisions a second, simulate can't think of the right word the big bang one billionth of a second after it happened.

[King Henry V]

My father worked on that, it couldn't possibly go wrong.:2thumbsup:
However, if it does, it will be just in the middle of my exams, so at least I won't have to work for the other half!

[TevashSzat]

I really hope not. We have spent so much money, time, and effort on nuclear weapons that it would just be a shame if some physics project got to destroy the world before nuclear holocaust did

[Rhyfelwyr]

p.s. why don't they wait 'til December 2012, so that Nostradomus, the Aztecs, etc could be proved right? :)

You mean the Mayans? :smartass:

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

(Probably) not gonna happen. (http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373620&page=3)

[Gregoshi]

(Probably) not gonna happen. (http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373620&page=3)
EMFM, that link is asking me for a login.

I think the person to make the last Backroom post before the world ends should get some kind of prize.

[KarlXII]

If I knew the world was ending and I made the last Backroom post, it'd be,

"Fun bags"

That is all.

Edit: Better?

[Gregoshi]

T'at's all.
Fixed it for you SF.

[Caius]

Apparently we are not. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/2650665/Legal-bid-to-stop-CERN-atom-smasher-from-destroying-the-world.html)

[Vladimir]

Human rights and environmental wakos: A match made in heaven.

This just reinforces my belief that they are at best emotional hacks and at worst, Luddites. :thumbsdown:

[Big_John]

Apparently we are not. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/2650665/Legal-bid-to-stop-CERN-atom-smasher-from-destroying-the-world.html)i want my higgs-boson now damnit! ~:mad

[Veho Nex]

No, european public-funded science gets something right? Hah!

:laugh: ohh man thanks for that, first good laugh of the night

[The_Doctor]

The CERN people made a rap song about it:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM
:inquisitive:

[Ronin]

The CERN people made a rap song about it:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM
:inquisitive:


white nerds rapping......

okay...now I´m convinced...this has to be a sign of the coming apocalypse!!!!:yes:

[Big_John]

white nerds rapping......

okay...now I´m convinced...this has to be a sign of the coming apocalypse!!!!:yes:
it's been coming for a long time then....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXb6bjCCtuY

edit: yes, before you click, it's the immortal "average homeboy", so you've undoubtedly seen it about 6,000 times.

[Banquo's Ghost]

:candle:

Psst. Anyone still here? (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-worlds-biggest-experiment-begins-924755.html)

[Big_John]

:candle:

Psst. Anyone still here? (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-worlds-biggest-experiment-begins-924755.html)
it's going to take about 4 years for the micro blackhole to destroy earth. so we have a while.

[Banquo's Ghost]

it's going to take about 4 years for the micro blackhole to destroy earth. so we have a while.

Oh. Damn.

No offence Big_John, but I was rather counting on just Alizee and me being left with the onerous task of repopulating the ravaged earth.

Damn, damn, damn.

[Viking]

:candle:

Psst. Anyone still here? (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-worlds-biggest-experiment-begins-924755.html)

No collisions yet though.

[Ronin]

it's been coming for a long time then....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXb6bjCCtuY

edit: yes, before you click, it's the immortal "average homeboy", so you've undoubtedly seen it about 6,000 times.


word to your mother! :laugh4:

[Ronin]

there is no reason to fear....

Gordon Freeman is on the case!!!

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v677/vincent_pt/half.jpg

:laugh4:

[Banquo's Ghost]

Does it worry anyone else that a machine capable of ending the entire universe has the instructions taped to its side? With one set pointing in an entirely different direction to the previous set?

:shocked2:

[Tribesman]

No offence Big_John, but I was rather counting on just Alizee and me being left with the onerous task of repopulating the ravaged earth.

Damn, damn, damn.
Well since Paddys is no longer taking bets on the black hole perhaps you and Alizee can enter yourselves as candidates for this one


http://blog.paddypower.com/index.php/2008/09/05/your-wet-dream/

[Gregoshi]

there is no reason to fear....

Gordon Freeman is on the case!!!

Yes! We are Still Alive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI)!

[Ronin]

Yes! We are Still Alive (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI)!


yes....but I still miss the companion cube :2thumbsup:

[Adrian II]

yes....but I still miss the companion cube :2thumbsup:Sup?

:coffeenews:

[Louis VI the Fat]

I don't know guys. I sense a black hole swelling up. I think we'll have massive problems later.

I knew I should've taken it easy on all those beans in my chilli. ~:mecry:


Christ Louis. Sinking to new lows, are we? :shame:

[Gregoshi]

Louis, I hope it is true that nothing can escape a black hole...unless what you're feeling is really a brown dwarf or a gas giant.


Welcome to the gutter Louis. :laugh4:

[Big_John]

there is no reason to fear....

Gordon Freeman is on the case!!!
considering freeman's track record.. now i'm actually concerned.


where did i leave my crowbar?

[CrossLOPER]

https://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o273/CrossL/lhc_gman.jpg

[Crazed Rabbit]

That's getting creepy.

Also - I do hope you're not thinking we're anywhere near being safe yet:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/10/lhc_day_is_not_today/


Even then, it will be some little time more before nervous brainboxes actually turn the control known only* as "The Big Knob" right up, doubtless disregarding despairing warnings from their hunchbacked assistants with a cackle of insane laughter as they do so. Only then will the intensity of the LHC's criss-crossing proton or ion beams rise to previously unseen levels as the hurtling particles accelerate past the speeds previously achieved in earlier, lesser atom-smashers like the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.

Only at that stage - probably a year or more from now - will the colliding protons be disintegrated with sufficient violence to produce the various treats we have been promised. Strangely perhaps, by then it seems a racing cert that the broadcasters will all have gone home, and the scribblers will mostly have ceased to file copy. Once the insane laughs begin to truly ring out in the LHC's underground caverns, once the mad scientists wipe the foam from their lips, roll up their sleeves, lock and load their outrageous particle guns and really start to show what they can do, the chances are that nobody will be watching.

CR

[Louis VI the Fat]

I'm so tempted to stoop lower than ever before...


the control known only as "The Big Knob"

[Big_John]

criss-crossing proton or ion beams

:stunned: have they never seen ghostbusters? never cross the streams. :stunned:

[JR-]

I found a web forum dedicated to those concerned about the LHC:
http://www.lhcconcerns.com/LHCConcerns/Forums/phpBB3/index.php?sid=d8f23d4bbecd7082c010861037d1ef3d

[Caius]

I think the person to make the last Backroom post before the world ends should get some kind of prize.
Who would give it? :inquisitive:

[Big_John]

Who would give it? :inquisitive:

the mods. of course.

[JR-]

an event horizon is no bar to the awesome power of orgah mods!

[Big_John]

clegane has seen worse.

[drone]

Apparently, Greek hackers got into the LHC network during the "warm up". Having vital control computers hooked up to the series of tubes is a mind-boggling error. :no: Stupid physicists...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/09/12/scicern212.xml

[LeftEyeNine]

A series of earthquakes one after another which started with the time clashing with the commencing date of this experiment is feeding rumours.

[King Jan III Sobieski]

I don't know 'bout y'all...but I'm still alive!

[Adrian II]

Apparently, Greek hackers got into the LHC network during the "warm up". Having vital control computers hooked up to the series of tubes is a mind-boggling error. :no: Stupid physicists...Read again, the hackers got only as far as the Cern website. They targeted a second ring of data-gathering computers, but didn't get in. And if the scientists couldn't hook up control computers to the tubes, prey tell us how they should conduct their experiment?

By hand? :mellow:

[Ronin]

Read again, the hackers got only as far as the Cern website. They targeted a second ring of data-gathering computers, but didn't get in. And if the scientists couldn't hook up control computers to the tubes, prey tell us how they should conduct their experiment?

By hand? :mellow:

a typical and "non alarmist" journalistic piece :laugh4:

[Big_John]

i died. where are the rest of you guys?

[Ronin]

i died. where are the rest of you guys?


I´m in a place with my 10 favorite porn stars..........

is it heaven?...call it what you like! :laugh4:

[Big_John]

I´m in a place with my 10 favorite porn stars..........

is it heaven?...call it what you like! :laugh4:
are they female porn stars? :inquisitive:

[PBI]

I'm pretty sure there are some members keeping mighty quiet who owe Tribesey a tenner.

Although, I should point out that the world was really never going to end last Wednesday because all they were doing was circulating a beam, not colliding it.

The real brown-trouser collisions will start some time after Christmas. ~;p

[Ronin]

are they female porn stars? :inquisitive:

of course....


they offered me the 72 virgins package but I decided to go with someone who knowns what they are doing. :laugh4:

[Big_John]

of course....


they offered me the 72 virgins package but I decided to go with someone who knowns what they are doing. :laugh4:
dude, you have enternity.. i'm sure the virgins will learn. and eternity is a long time to have herpes. :sad:

[Vladimir]

Black Hole (http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/14/top15.htm) found at the LHC!!!

[Banquo's Ghost]

Oh dear, the universe folding back in on itself has caused a Lemurian Time-Warp Paradox (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=2013872#post2013872) to swallow up Vladimir.

[Vladimir]

Oh dear, the universe folding back in on itself has caused a Lemurian Time-Warp Paradox (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=2013872#post2013872) to swallow up Vladimir.

Nooooooooooooooooo...

Actually, mine is a different story with a MUCH cooler title. :thumbsup:

[drone]

Read again, the hackers got only as far as the Cern website. They targeted a second ring of data-gathering computers, but didn't get in. And if the scientists couldn't hook up control computers to the tubes, prey tell us how they should conduct their experiment?

By hand? :mellow:

For something as vital and expensive as the LHC, there should be an air-gap between the public face of CERN and the actual control of the device. The guy monitoring particles going around the collider does not need access to pr0n and sports results at the same time. Important, potentially life threatening equipment should never go on the global web. Data transfer from the device should be via sneakernet. You would think that the creators of the World Wide Web would know this fact. ~:rolleyes:

[Viking]

For something as vital and expensive as the LHC, there should be an air-gap between the public face of CERN and the actual control of the device. The guy monitoring particles going around the collider does not need access to pr0n and sports results at the same time. Important, potentially life threatening equipment should never go on the global web. Data transfer from the device should be via sneakernet. You would think that the creators of the World Wide Web would know this fact. ~:rolleyes:

I wouldn't call the LHC potentially life threatening. :inquisitive:

[drone]

I wouldn't call the LHC potentially life threatening. :inquisitive:

You haven't read the title to this thread, have you? ~D

I don't know how the LHC works, but I would imagine there are safety precautions that are observed. What happens if the magnets get turned on when maintenance crews are inside? Can messing with the magnetic timing damage the equipment? This is why control systems should not be on the series of tubes. Same with medical equipment.

[PBI]

It wouldn't be possible for hackers mucking around with the control systems to blow up the universe, but they probably could cause some expensive damage. As for being dangerous, I suppose it could potentially be dangerous for the personnel working there, but the hackers would need to really know what they were doing, the LHC has all sorts of automatic safety cut-outs so that if something goes wrong, the beam just gets shut down and dumped into the side of a mountain.

I can definitely see that it's not ideal for the LHC to be connected to the tubes, but unfortunately it's unavoidable. The LHC produces such a staggering amount of data that it's just not possible for the computers at CERN to process it all; instead it gets analysed at various top universities all across Europe who have had their tubes to CERN specifically upgraded to be really big tubes specifically for the purpose.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
I reckon this is the third next Wotan's Day since the thread was posted. So who's dead except BJ and Ronin? :toff:
.

[Viking]

The LHC is damaged and halted for two months:

Damage to new collider forces 2-month halt (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080920/ap_on_re_eu/eu_switzerland_particle_collider;_ylt=Ahu9top4Z67kuGWK5B8FH5oiANEA)


GENEVA - The world's largest atom smasher — which was launched with great fanfare earlier this month — has been damaged worse than previously thought and will be out of commission for at least two months, its operators said Saturday.

Experts have gone into 17-mile (27-kilometer) circular tunnel housing the Large Hadron Collider under the Swiss-French border to examine the damage that halted operations about 36 hours after its Sept. 10 startup, said James Gillies, spokesman for CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

"It's too early to say precisely what happened, but it seems to be a faulty electrical connection between two magnets that stopped superconducting, melted and led to a mechanical failure and let the helium out," Gillies told The Associated Press.

Gillies said the sector that was damaged will have to be warmed up well above the absolute zero temperature used for operations so that repairs can be made — a time-consuming process.

"A number of magnets raised their temperature by around 100 degrees," Gillies said. "We have now to warm up the whole sector in a controlled manner before we can actually go in and repair it."

Perhaps it was a black hole. :laugh4:

[CrossLOPER]

The LHC is damaged and halted for two months:

Damage to new collider forces 2-month halt (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080920/ap_on_re_eu/eu_switzerland_particle_collider;_ylt=Ahu9top4Z67kuGWK5B8FH5oiANEA)



Perhaps it was a black hole. :laugh4:
You know, you'd think that they would buy good parts...

[Viking]

A quick update here from NASA:

The Day the World [...] End (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/10oct_lhc.htm)





First of all, yes, it is true that the LHC might create [...] black holes.

Actually, once the LHC is running again and begins producing collisions, physicists will be ecstatic if it creates a [... ] black hole. It would be the first experimental [...] to support an elegant but [...] controversial [...].

:fainting: